February 1. Four black freshman at North Carolina took seats at a segregated launch counter F. W. Woolworth's in Greensboro, N.C, where they were refused service, peacefully they sat there until th store closed. The next day the four students returned with 25 more students and their requst were once again denied. This inspired many similar sit-ins across the state, and by the end of february these sit-ins where taking place across the south. Finally in july all stores in Woolworth's Greensboro became integrated. http://www.sitins.com
1961
May 4. Over the spring and summer, student volunteers begin taking bus trips through the South to test out new laws that prohibit segregation in interstate travel facilities, which includes bus and railway stations. Several of the groups of "freedom riders," as they are called, are attacked by angry mobs along the way. The program, sponsored by (CORE) and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), involves more than 1,000 volunteers, black and white.
1962
Oct. 1James Meredith becomes the first black student to enroll at the University of Mississippi. The states governor opposed his enrolment.Violence and riots surrounding the incident cause President Kennedy to send 5,000 federal troops.
James Meredith
1963
April 16 Martin Luther King is arrested and jailed during anti-segregation protests in Birmingham, he writes his seminal "Letter from Birmingham Jail," arguing that individuals have the moral duty to disobey unjust laws. Aug. 28 About 200,000 people join the March in Washington, Congregating at the Lincoln Memorial, espectators listen as Martin Luther King delivers his famous "I Have a Dream" speech. Sept. 15 Four young girls (Denise McNair, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson, and Addie Mae Collins) attending Sunday school are killed when a bomb explodes at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, a popular location for civil rights meetings. Riots erupt in Birmingham, leading to the deaths of two more black youths.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
1964
Jan. 23 The 24th Amendment abolishes the poll tax, which originally had been instituted in 11 southern states after Reconstruction to make it difficult for poor blacks to vote. Summer The Council of Federated Organizations, launches a massive effort to register black voters during what becomes known as the Freedom Summer. July 2 President Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964 The Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination of all kinds based on race, color, religion, or national origin. The law also provides the federal government with the powers to enforce desegregation. Aug. 4 (Neshoba Country, Miss.) The bodies of three civil-rights workers—two white, one black—James E. Chaney, 21; Andrew Goodman, 21; and Michael Schwerner, 24,who had been working to register black voters in Mississippi, and, on June 21, had gone to investigate the burning of a black church. They were arrested by the police on speeding charges, after several hours in jail, they were released after dark into the hands of the Ku Klux Klan, who murdered them.
FBI photographs of Andrew Goodman, James Earl Chaney, and Michael Schwerner
1965
Feb. 21 (Harlem, N.Y.) Malcolm X, black nationalist and founder of the Organization of Afro-American Unity, is shot to death. March 7 (Selma, Ala.) Blacks begin a march to Montgomery in support of voting rights but are stopped at the Pettus Bridge by a police blockade. Fifty marchers are hospitalized after police use tear gas, whips, and clubs against them, this day was latter called "Bloody Sunday" The march is considered the buster for pushing through the voting rights act five months later. Aug. 10 Congress passes the Voting Rights Act of 1965, making it easier for Southern blacks to register to
vote.
Malcolm X
1966
Oct. (Oakland, Calif.) The militant Black Panthers are founded by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale.
Members of The Black Panthers Party
1967
April 19 Stokely Carmichael, a leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), coins the phrase "black power" in a speech in Seattle. He defines it as an assertion of black pride and "the coming together of black people to fight for their liberation by any means necessary." June 12 Virginia, the Supreme Court rules that prohibiting interracial marriage is unconstitutional. Sixteen states that still banned interracial marriage at the time are forced to revise their laws.
1968
April 4 (Memphis, Tenn.) Martin Luther King, at age 39, is shot as he stands on the balcony outside his hotel room. April 11 President Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1968, prohibiting discrimination in the sale, rental, and financing of housing.
Eyewitnesses to the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.
1960s Timeline
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vote.
1960's Music
Martin Luther King interview